[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 It just seems needlessly confusing. All the things that made those new 14" and 16" models jump up $200 in price and earn the "Pro" title - the size increase, the new (old) ports, etc. - aren't part of that $1,299 model.

It even has the Touch Bar still, so it's clearly just yet another spec bump.

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 This is now about the fourth or fifth opportunity they've had to tweak/address that. They just don't, for whatever reason.

Yep.

[kieran]

I'll probably end up with the Midnight MBA at some point when it actually is available, but for now, just ordered the Studio Display, which has an estimated arrival of August 18th. Ouch.

[turtle]

I would guess there will be a new desktop event to cover the update to the mini and Mac Pro. I would guess it is really a Mac Pro event with the mini upgrade thrown in.

Also, I was glad to see apple starting to push Matter with HomeKit. This means the path to Matter is getting shorter. I don't know if it will be the nirvana of home automation, but it is likely to be the closest we will get for a while.

[Frank777]

The Mac Pro (currently) only makes sense for the high-end video production crowd.

Given that Apple recently acknowledged Final Cut Pro's professional shortcomings and promised a worthy upgrade, my guess is that the new Pro will be unveiled in the fall alongside that upgrade (10.7?)

I am surprised the Mini didn't get a silent upgrade to M2 today though.

[psmith2.0]

Me too. The other two Macs from November 2020 did. Those all three went to M1 on the same day. Wonder why the Mac mini was left out? I talked Dad into waiting because I knew WWDC was looming and I told him that the Mac mini he's eyeing might be updated (just based on how long its been, rumors of the M2, etc.).

Today came and went with nothing happening. His needs are modest (writing, surfing), so it wasn't that he was waiting on the M2 necessarily, but if one was announced today, it would've pushed the prices on the refurb M1 minis down by $30-50. As it stands, he's now going to pull the trigger on that base, entry-level M1 Mac mini (8/256) for $589, once they become available (none showing today, last I checked). Even at 18 months old, it'll run circles around his 2010 MacBook Pro which barely even works at this point and takes forever to do do anything...open windows, menu appear, etc.

PS - I'm not entirely convinced Apple is even working on a Mac Pro, as we know/expect it. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if they just said "eh, screw it...we don't sell enough of them to kill ourselves trying to make a perfect one", despite having done so for ages and ages (until they thought that trash can was a better idea; and then it sat, untouched, for six years). I really don't think Apple thinks much of that area anymore* and, if they had their way, everyone would just buy a tricked-out Mac studio.



*I think the current Mac Pro (with the wheels and the $1,000 monitor stand) was a troll/inside gag or elaborate prank that somehow got out of hand and wound up being for sale.

[Frank777]

The really funny thing is that Apple Silicon solves the thermal problem of the Trash Can. They could bring it back now if they wanted.

[Frank777]

The Trash Can is still a superior design to the Studio, given that at least the SSDs would be upgradable.

[psmith2.0]

The Cube too.

To me, a big pro tower (big being relative, but bigger than anything else in Apple's lineup) should be the easiest thing to design/build. It doesn't need to be sleek, lightweight, "pretty", etc. Why they didn't roll that out back in November alongside the new 14" and 16" notebooks, I'll never know. Or at any point in 2022. Do they not think the Pro and Max (and now Ultra) variants are capable enough?

What are they working on?! Are they trying to make it fly/levitate too? Or waterproof up to 60 meters, in case Aqua-Man wants to buy one? What is the hold up for a big square box whose side comes off/folds down and a bunch of ports on the back?

Apple, after years and years of making really nice, near-perfect ones, seems to have lost the ability (will? desire?), the past decade or so, to just make a no-frills, suitably expandable and buzzword-friendly pro tower. Have they gotten so good at doing thin, light and intricate that they've forgotten how to do bulky, heavy and dumb?

[709]

Speaking of, I noticed that the Trash Can is missing from the 'supported' list for Ventura. Truly the end for the little guy.

[drewprops]

What was up with Federhooky doing a Superman run? Was that a sly reference to something?

Also, was he mocking their naming scheme for operating systems? I was in another room so it was not my main focus.

I'm convinced that my next vehicle needs to be used, to act as a spacer between old AirPlay and new AirPlay.

The Home app could be cool, but it's going to take some deprogramming to get people to stop saying "Alexa".

The ability to pull text out of video was pretty sly.

I liked the shareable Safari groups.

The side stage thing was interesting. If you can control it with key commands I'm in.

Customizable widgets on the Home Screen is cool.

I still haven't figured out how to use widgets inline with other apps. I'm sure I can figure that out.

Using my phone as an extra (better) camera seems like a kludge. Handy, but a kludge.

...

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 The Cube too. To me, a big pro tower (big being relative, but bigger than anything else in Apple's lineup) should be the easiest thing to design/build. It doesn't need to be sleek, lightweight, "pretty", etc. Why they didn't roll that out back in November alongside the new 14" and 16" notebooks, I'll never know. Or at any point in 2022. Do they not think the Pro and Max (and now Ultra) variants are capable enough?

M1 Macs have built in RAM and GPU. They could just put the M1 Ultra in the case and only allow PCI cards for non-GPU purposes, and no additional RAM, but I guess that’s not quite what they want. Keep in mind the M1 Ultra goes up to 128 GB RAM; the current Mac Pro goes to 1,536. They probably want a narrower gap than that.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 I guess the Mac Pro is still in the pipeline somewhere. They didn't say a single word about it, did they?

Ternus said "we've already transitioned almost the entire product line". That's the Mac Pro nod.

[Bryson]

Originally Posted by psmith2.0 PS #2 - That closing shot/zoom-out of Apple HQ, time-lapsing from daylight to dark, was really slick. I guess that's just a really slow drone with the time-lapse camera feature turned on? Or maybe just a boatload of CGI?

It seemed to me they were leaning hard on that they had a very good CGI rendering of Apple Park that was good enough to edit together with real footage (and create unreal long corridors for transitions etc) so I would suspect CGI. Or a blend.

[psmith2.0]

Yesterday let me know that I like the outside surroundings of that place WAY better than the interior. Those huge hallways just look like such wastes of space. I thought every internal view was sterile and ugly, while the outdoor trails, walkways, scrubby brush, trees, rolling hills, etc. were beautiful.

The more I see of that new building, the less I like it. It looks like a hospital. A really ugly, soul-draining hospital. I can now understand all those employees squawking about having to return to the office. Hell, I wouldn’t want to either!